Week in Review: DeSoto Square mall apartment proposal, Manatee County's plan to rebuild roads, red tide and Vern Buchanan's future

Red tide is back off Anna Maria Island, COVID-19 may be on the upswing in Manatee County and new school board member wants next superintendent to be “patriotic.” But first this …

Few news topics have stirred the social media pot in Bradenton over the past several years like DeSoto Square mall. When it was still open, the chatter was about how to keep it open or the need to close it down. And since it closed in April 2021, the debate — some parts of it not as serious as others — has been what should go in its place.

Everyone has an opinion.

The back and forth heated up again this week after The Bradenton Journal reported that a Winter Park development company had filed with Manatee County a preliminary site plan for the 240-unit Cameron Bradenton apartments, which would go up on about 11 acres of the shuttered mall’s parking lot near the intersection of Cortez Road and U.S. 41/First Street.